I had a very interesting conversation with a mentoring client last week – I’ll call her Jane. Jane had created a new program in a new market for her and designed a distribution keynote. She delivered the keynote for the first time and it was successful. She got new mentoring clients. Then she stopped ... even though it looked like everything was going according to plan (and it actually was going exactly according to plan). When I spoke to Jane she told me she wasn’t sure any more that it was what she really wanted to do.
I said I was very suspicious of that coming up at this time in the process. I thought for a bit, and then said I actually didn’t care if it was what she really wanted to do or not. When you get above blue belt, then you can start being choosy. But until then, if someone wants to pay you, you take the money.
Jane has since told me that she has found the conversation to be incredibly liberating. She doesn’t need to worry about if it’s the “right thing” for her to be doing. It’s just the project she’s doing now … so get on with it.
I live in Eltham which is very hilly. When I run, I have a rule for myself: I’m not allowed to walk. It’s actually really cool … its means I don’t have to think about when I’m going to walk, if I’m going to walk, what it means if I walk, et cetera. All this noise that used to happen in my head is now gone. (There is a bunch of other noise, but not about whether I’m going to walk up a hill or not).
I think it’s the same with Jane’s project. Whether or not this is what she “really wants to do” is noise … particularly at this point in the project.
Are you using the question of what your true purpose is, what you really want to be when you grow up, as a form of procrastination? Love to hear your thoughts.
